Brown Opposes Bank Fee

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Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who voted in favor of the Senate's financial regulatory revamp, sent a letter to Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank today saying he would oppose the conference report because of a last-minute addition of a $19 billion fee on banks to pay for the bill. "If the final version of this bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it," he wrote. Brown, along with GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, protested the insertion of the fee just hours before the report was finished. The CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation estimated Monday the bill would be budget-neutral over a 10-year period, bringing in $26.9 billion while costing that amount. The bank fee is estimated to bring in $17.9 billion between 2012 and 2015.